Pasadena Genocide memorial "to shed 1.5 million tears" in a year

YEREVAN, JANAURY 30, ARMENPRESS. Student at the Art Center College of Design Catherine Menard won the tender announced for the design of a public memorial in Pasadena commemorating the Armenian Genocide. As reports "Armenpress" the Pasadena Armenian Genocide Memorial Committee praised Catherine Menard's design as an "an emotionally compelling design" that would serve to "inspire a similar emotional connection in those who encounter it, for generations to come."

The central feature of Menard's design -- a carved-stone basin of water straddled by a tripod arrangement of three columns leaning into one another -- is a single drop of water that falls from the highest point every three seconds, each "teardrop" representing one life lost. Over the course of one year, 1.5 million "tears" will fall into the pool, representing the estimated number of people who died during the Armenian genocide of 1915 to 1918 in Turkey.

Menard had to first immerse herself in the brutal history of the Armenian people to come up with concept. In a statement, Menard said the research process was engrossing and inspirational. "At first I felt unworthy -- who am I to respond to such loss?" she said. “But art lends itself to the deepest, darkest parts of human experience. It can create sympathy, empathy, and understanding. I wanted to pair this horror with something uplifting and beautiful, to create a way to remember.